Yeppoon

Yeppoon is a seaside town on the Capricorn Coast of central Queensland, Australia, northeast of Rockhampton on Keppel Bay. Ferries leave its marina for Great Keppel Island, which has white sand beaches and fringing coral reefs. The Tropic of Capricorn crosses the coast near Rockhampton and gives this stretch of shore its name.

The Darumbal people are the traditional owners of the coast around the town and of the islands of the bay. James Cook sailed past in 1770 and named Keppel Bay after the admiral Augustus Keppel. Cattle runs and timber camps were set up in the district in the 1860s, and the town grew as a seaside resort for the people of Rockhampton after a railway reached it in the early 20th century. In the following decades it spread along the coast into the beach suburbs of the Capricorn Coast.

Pineapples grow on the red soils of the hills behind the town, and the Pinefest festival has celebrated the crop since the 1960s with a parade and fireworks. Cattle graze on the farms of the surrounding district, and boats from the marina run fishing and diving trips to the reefs of the bay, where coral trout and red emperor are caught.

The Yeppoon Lagoon, a saltwater swimming pool beside the beach, opened in the late 2010s with views over the bay. Byfield National Park, to the north, has sand dunes, rainforest creeks and a long beach on the open coast. At Emu Park, south along the coast, the Singing Ship sculpture marks Cook's voyage and makes sounds in the sea breeze.